JEDDAH — In line with Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives' (ALJCI) aim to support art in the Gulf and Middle East region, ALJCI supported the Crossway Foundation's Create & Inspire 2013 competition. Thirty-two of the Gulf's most promising emerging artists were interviewed for this year's Create & Inspire competition. Judging interviews took place simultaneously in four Gulf cities: Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah and Doha. Eleven winners from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been selected for their original and imaginative responses to this year's competition theme: Public Art: Re-imagining your Community. As an award, the winners will travel to London and Yorkshire in August 2013 to experience the United Kingdom's thriving public art scene, working with professional artists, curators and filmmakers to develop key skills in leadership, communication and creativity. “We're proud and delighted to see so many talented young Gulf artists in this competition. Supporting initiatives such as Create & Inspire lies at the very heart of what ALJCI believes in: fostering young artists' careers; encouraging them to develop their talents by exposing them to new experiences; and empowering them to share what they have learned in order to enrich their communities back home,” said Fady Jameel, president of ALJCI International. Zain Zedan, arts and culture initiative manager at ALJCI, said: “Now in its third year, this groundbreaking initiative aims to identify and invest in creative talent from the Gulf. The project aims to empower young artists, equipping them with skills and experiences which can be applied to their own communities upon their return.” Create & Inspire is a project by the Crossway Foundation, a London-based charity delivering arts and education initiatives for young people between the Middle East and the UK. Set up by Edge of Arabia (another initiative supported by ALJCI) and The Prince's Regeneration Trust, the Foundation focuses on delivering creative expeditions between the UK and Middle East, as well as workshops and art curriculum development for schools and universities. Stephen Stapleton, chief executive of the Crossway Foundation said: “Enhancing communities through art has become an increasingly talked about topic in the Gulf. Against this backdrop, we challenged applicants to come up with a creative campaign to inspire their communities and make a positive difference in their environment.”
